


Color Coded

by Test_Tube_Writer



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Also Amy and Shadow are best friends you can't change my mind, Doesn't explicitly state Shadow likes Sonic but it's implies, Gen, Quill Color au, Wrote this for Sonadow Week 2018, saw a thing on tumblr and got inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 08:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17076836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Test_Tube_Writer/pseuds/Test_Tube_Writer
Summary: Amy throws Shadow his first birthday party and he makes a shocking new discovery about his alien heritage.





	Color Coded

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this back in July for Sonadow Week. It hasn't been beta read and I just wanted to post something since it's been so long. Hopefully you'll enjoy this!

“Okay Shadow,” Amy chirped as she backed into the dining room, pushing opening the door with her foot. She was holding something in her arms, and was careful to keep it out of the other hedgehog’s sight as she approached the table where he was sitting. Shadow assumed that from her perspective the whole scene was very suspenseful and charming. To him, however, the pink hedgehog looked rather silly walking backward, craning her neck this way and that looking over her shoulders to make sure she didn’t stumble over anything.

When she reached the table, she spun around and shoved the previously hidden object in front of the dark hedgehog. “Happy Birthday, Shadow,” she exclaimed happily. In her hands was a cake, decorated with white frosting and bordered with soft red tufts.

Shadow stared at it momentarily lost for words. He looked up and saw Amy watching him, eyes apprehensive and somewhat worried. He looked over the cake again, choosing his words carefully as to not hurt her feelings. “It’s not my birthday, Amy. I was, uh, I don’t really have one.”

“I know that, silly,” she laughed. She set the desert down on the table and took a seat across from him. “I asked Rouge and she said the same thing. But, I felt kind of bad that you never had a birthday party, and if no one was going to throw one I just had to step up to the challenge!” Throwing her head back triumphantly, Amy produced a knife and began to divide the cake into slices.

Shadow glanced nervously around the room. He was familiar with the celebration of birthdays. He had been invited to Tails’ party by Sonic, and had been forced to take part in hiding in the dark and jumping out at the young fox when he entered his workshop. There was also Sonic’s party where the Time Eater had attacked. It had been terrible yes, but it had gotten him out of the awkward conversation Vector had roped him into with Silver. He scoured the small dining room for any sign of hiding party partitioners waiting to leap out at him.

Amy placed a slice of cake in front of him, “You thought I was going to throw a big party, didn’t you?” She had noticed his nervous glances. “Don’t worry, Shadow, I know how much you hate crowds. I thought you’d enjoy a quiet lunch instead.”

“That’s very unlike you,” said Shadow. Relieved, he took a sip of the juice she had poured him earlier.  “From what I know of you, you never miss an opportunity to draw a crowd.”

“And from what I know of you, Shadow, is that you prefer to be alone and a big party would ruin your first ever birthday.” Amy said. “As much as I love parties, I love your trust in me even more. I was really surprised when you started hanging around me. At first I thought you were trying to steal me away from Sonic!” She laughed at her last statement.

Unsure if it would be rude of him to laugh as well, Shadow remained silent and took his first spoonful of cake. It was delicious, as was everything that Amy baked. He had never stated it out loud, but he was very fond of her cooking. It was one of the reasons he had taken to spending his days off at her house. The other reason being that she lived away from the city making it harder for him to be tracked down.

Amy watched him eat with a bright smile. “Do you like it, Shadow?”

Shadow met her eyes and gave her one of his rare smiles, “Of course.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” she said happily. She began recounting how she had made it, where she had bought the ingredients, how she had considered writing a message on the top like other birthday cakes had. Shadow found himself only half listening as he continued eating his first slice of birthday cake.

Amy’s dining room was very homely. Hand knitted pot holders hung from hooks and pictures of various places and people hung on the walls. It was warm outside and the windows were open to let in the afternoon breeze while the light pink curtains gave the room a rosy glow. Music was playing from another room, filling the spaces between her words with a soft ambiance. Shadow felt relaxed for the first time in weeks, a feeling of peace sweeping over him as he listened to Amy’s rapid speech and the calming, far off notes of classical music.

He realized suddenly that Amy had gone silent. He looked up, wondering if she had asked him a question that he had been too lost in thought to hear. She was staring at him wide-eyed, looking at the top and sides of his head. Shadow raised his hand and swiped at his quills, feeling to see if there was something stuck to him. When he was sure there was nothing there, he turned and looked behind him checking the windows to see if someone was watching them. Again, there was nothing.

When he saw that she was still staring, he grew irritated. “Amy, why are you staring at me?” He snapped.

“Huh? Oh, uh, well,” she stammered coming back to the present, “it- it's your stripes.”

“What about them?” He asked.

Amy covered her mouth with her hand. She appeared to be...holding back a laugh? “They’re pink.”

Shadow looked down at his arms. Surely she was mistaken. Perhaps the sunset’s tinted light was tricking her eyes. But, when he looked down at the stripes on the sides of his arms he found that Amy had been correct. His red quills were much lighter, transforming them into a soft, almost pastel pink. Slowly he pushed his chair away from the table, stood up, and headed to the living room.

He tried to appear nonchalant as he walked, but it was impossible when panic clutched at his chest with a clawed hand. Shadow had slowly been made aware of certain bodily actions that were not typical of average mobians. His immunity to bacteria, disregard for temperature, and natural night vision were all traits that he had traced back to his alien heritage. Those things, however, were not difficult to hide. If a new ability was emerging now, one that affected his physical appearance, it would be impossible for him to keep it under wraps for long.

Amy had a mirror hanging in her living room next to the door. He had seen it when he walked in, and Amy had explained her habit of checking her hair before answering her door. Shadow planted his hands on either side of the reflective glass as he saw that the stripes on his head were the same cheery powder pink as the ones on his arms. As he stared his quills began to revert back to their original color. Shadow ran his hands over the shifting marks in wonder and confusion. When the changing finally stopped, they were once again the striking red they had been that morning.

His relief only lasted a minute as he saw Amy standing behind him in the mirror’s reflection. He spun around to face her, mind racing as he tried to come up with something to say. Now that he had a witness it would be much harder to keep this incident a secret. Should he threaten her to keep her mouth shut? No, that didn't even work with Rouge, and Amy was much scarier that the bat had ever been even when enraged. Could he confide in her? She was just so chatty. Could he really trust her not to let it slip out during a lunch date with a friend? A friend. Shadow’s mind shot to Sonic. If he found out about this-

“Hello? Earth to Shadow?” Amy waved her hand in front of the striped hedgehog’s face snapping him out of his thoughts. She gave him a sympathetic look.“Shadow, it's okay. You don't have to freak out. I've know about this for a while.”

Shadow stared at her, shock making his jaw drop. “This has happened before?”

Amy put a hand on his back and pushed him toward the couch. “Sit down, Shadow,” she said, “you’re starting to look pale.”

Shadow allowed her to bustle him over to the sofa, a huge, pink, overstuffed piece of furniture. When he was seated, sinking a few inches into the plush cushions, Amy ran back to the kitchen. She returned a few moments later and set two cups and saucers on the coffee table. “I set the kettle on. Tea should be ready soon.” She sat down next to him and smoothed her skirt over her lap.

“How many times has this happened prior to now?” Shadow began firing questions at her as fast as they came to his mind. “Were there ever others around when it happened? Have you told anyone about this? What conditions was I exposed to that may have caused this change?”

“Shadow, calm down.” Amy raised her hands as if to protect herself from the barrage of questions.

Shadow stopped and watched her silently. He noticed his hands were shaking, and clenched them in his lap. These new discoveries about himself always made him nervous. These adaptations that set him apart from the rest of Mobius would stir up memories of his time on the Ark, and of the experiments that had been done on him. Then there was also the question of hiding it from G.U.N, or Sonic and his friends.  His quills bristled as his anxiety spiked.

Amy took his hands in hers, holding them steady and giving them a reassuring squeeze. She waited until his eyes met hers before saying anything. When she did begin to speak she did so slowly and gently, so that her voice held a reassuring note in the air between them. “Shadow, I’ve seen this happen a few times before. I didn’t say anything to you because I wasn’t sure if you knew about it, or if you were just trying to ignore it. Now hold on-”

Shadow tried to speak but she shushed him.

“The first time it happened was when you and Cream and I were at Vanilla’s house. When she was teaching you how to make flower crowns? I thought your stripes looked lighter than before, but I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. Even when Cream asked me if I had saw it I told her I hadn’t. Then, I saw it several times after that. Sometimes it was when we went to the flower shop together and you’d put together a bouquet, or when you were racing with Sonic.”

Shadow pulled his hands out of her grasp. “Sonic knows about this?!” He gripped the plush cushions until his knuckles turned white.

Sonic and him poked fun at each other all of the time, but Sonic having this knowledge at his disposal meant that not only was he likely to use it to embarrass him in front of the others, but he might begin to look at Shadow differently. If more physical abnormalities began to manifest he might not be able to hide them. G.U.N already knew about his Black Arms heritage, but the others didn’t. If the others started to ask questions, would Sonic keep his secret?

“Shadow,” Amy snapped him out of his thoughts once again. “Shadow, if you’re afraid of Sonic knowing you don’t have to be. He’s known too-I don’t know if he’s known longer or about the same amount of time as I have, but he doesn’t care.”

“He...he doesn’t?” Shadow asked. He found it hard to imagine Sonic letting something like this go unannounced for so long. Secrecy, hell just being quiet, wasn’t part of the blue hedgehog’s nature.

Amy giggled, holding the back of her hand over her smiling mouth. “Not at all! In fact he-”

A shrill whistle came from the kitchen and she hurried to attend to the kettle. Shadow watched her go and then sat in silent apprehension as he waited for her to return. When she came back she was carrying a tray with tea, sugar, and milk. She placed it on the coffee table and reclaimed her seat next to Shadow.

“Milk and sugar?” She poured tea into the cups as she asked.

Shadow shook his head. He preferred his tea by itself. Amy shrugged and poured a generous helping of each into her own cup. She took a sip, deemed it correct, and turned to him with a smile.

“What was I saying before?” She asked.

“Sonic doesn’t mind-” Shadow said. He gestured to his quills and leaned forward, anxious to start the conversation again.

“Oh, that’s right!” Amy set down her cup and turned herself more towards the dark hedgehog. “Sonic’s seen it happen, I’m not sure if it’s been as many or more times than I-”

“You said that part already.”

“Shadow!” Amy huffed and crossed her arms. “Don’t rush me. It’s called building the suspense.”

“Amy, I can’t take the suspense.”

Amy blinked. That sounded like, could it be, fear in Shadow’s voice?

“I need to know if Sonic,” he paused and swallowed hard. “I need to know if he sees me differently because of this. Because of who I am.”

Amy clasped her hands over her heart. Tears welled in her eyes and she wrapped Shadow in a hug before he had time to realize what she was doing. Her voice was shrill as she sobbed.

“Oh, Shadow, he doesn’t think anything less of you! And neither do I!”

Shadow, unused to being so close to someone and uncomfortable with prolonged embrace, tried to push her away. This prompted Amy to hold on tighter.

“Shadow, is it because of the Ark?”

Shadow froze. Amy’s grip on him loosened, but he didn’t try to push her away anymore. He felt cold all of a sudden.

“Shadow, I want you to know that none of us hold anything that happened with the Ark against you, least of all Sonic. We all want you to know that we trust you, and even if you don’t want to talk about all of the things you’ve been through we’ll still be here for you.”

He was returning her hug now. Her words had loosened something inside of him, and he held on to her as if she were the only thing keeping him from being sucked into the dark memories pricking at the back of his mind.

The radio in the next room had changed to a more upbeat song now. The room was growing darker as the sun finally sank behind the hilly horizon. Even as the light bled out of the room it still felt safe. The soft pinks of the walls and furniture, the smell of cake, and the warmth of Amy’s arms around him restored the feeling of peace he had felt when his visit had first began.

 

 

 

 

Amy cleared away the plates from the table, stacking them in the sink while Shadow ran warm water and a sponge over them. He knew that his stripes were off color again. Not because he could see flashes of pink along his arm as he scrubbed the dishes, but because of the calm, almost cheery feeling he had sitting warm in his chest. Amy brought over the tea set and set it aside.

She gasped suddenly, “Oh, I forgot to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Shadow’s ears flicked toward the radio trying to catch the lyrics to a song he had heard a few days ago.

Amy grinned as she handed him a towel. “Me and Sonic know what causes your quills to change color, and we did it all by ourselves.” She exclaimed triumphantly.

Shadow chuckled. When Amy had cleared away the tea he had taken another look at himself in the living room mirror. After the heartfelt talk and the uncharacteristic hug his stripes were almost white. That had been enough for him to deduce the cause by himself, but he pretended to be surprised anyway. Amy was a good friend to him. A friend he was beginning to believe he did not deserve.

“Did you now?”

Amy beamed and put her hands on her hips. “Absolutely. Sonic and I are the best detectives when we put our heads together.”

“Don’t let Vector hear you say that.”

“Stop interrupting! Anyway, by thinking about what you were doing and what was happening when your stripes changed color, we decided that the different hues must be linked to your emotions. So, lighter hues of red mean happiness and darker hues mean...well you know. But, we haven’t seen anything darker than your default color yet. I guess we’ll have to wait until Eggman’s next attack to see if that’s true.”

Amy threw her head back victoriously having finished her presentation. Shadow leaned back against the sink and applauded, letting Amy bask in her cleverness. He had to be fair, she had figured out the cause faster than he had. She had also reacted to it much more gracefully than he had initially. He would have to find a way to thank Sonic as well, for staying quiet about it for so long.

The pink hedgehog seemed to sense when his thoughts shifted to Sonic. She sighed dreamily, the signal that her thoughts were occupied the blue speedster as well.

“When Sonic found out what made your stripes change he said the sweetest thing,” she said.

Shadow’s ears perked up. They always did that whenever he heard that Sonic had said something about him, and was accompanied by a feeling of apprehension that was not altogether unpleasant but still very unusual to him. “Oh? What did he say?”

“He said that he was really glad that he could see when you were happy. He’d been worrying about you recently, about how you were away for work for such long periods of time. When he saw that he was making you happy with the races he set up he was so overjoyed!”

Shadow felt something in his chest when she said that. A sort of twitch, or maybe a pang. He was confused for a moment, but Amy was handing him the teacups and he returned to washing. The strange feeling was pushed to the back of his mind as his day off came to a close.

Amy didn’t let him leave without taking a few slices of cake with him.

“Rouge will get mad if she finds out that you didn’t share,” Amy said.

“I’ll let her know that you’re thinking of her.” Shadow maneuvered the tupperware under his arm. He held his hand out to the pink hedgehog for a parting handshake.

Amy, as per usual, ignored the offered hand and threw herself on him in a suffocating hug. While he was slightly put off by being tackled in such a way, he did at least return the gesture before he headed back to Club Rouge and his small apartment. Amy had given him peace of mind and an enjoyable afternoon. And, more importantly, she had let him know that Sonic did not look down at him despite his alien origins and violent past.

That thought sparked a warm feeling of happiness in his gut as he hurried home. If he passed anyone on his way, the only thing they could see of him was a blur of pink and a dissipating smell of birthday cake.

  



End file.
